


After all this time

by RemorsefulEnthusiast



Category: Red Velvet - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Seulrene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26108344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RemorsefulEnthusiast/pseuds/RemorsefulEnthusiast
Summary: A promise involving childhood friends who grew up to become a prosecutor and a criminal.
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Kang Seulgi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	After all this time

Bae Joohyun wondered if she should even go. There was no way. It was a promise made before they knew better. A promise made when they didn't know any better. When their youth made them think anything was possible. When hope was stronger than reality. Nothing would change. They would still be best friends. 

Real life had begged to differ.

She knew her face well. She had seen it enough times at work. Those eyes were still the same. But the expression was different. She was used to the kindness in her smile. Not the smirk she usually carried now. Kang Seulgi. The leader of the The Dawn.

Joohyun was building a case against her right now but a promise was a promise. Besides, it wasn't like she was going to come anyways.

The overhead lights flickered as she sat down on the bench facing the rising sun. She remembered the day when they made the promise. They had sat on this very bench. Seulgi's eyes had been red. She had been crying. Not just for her dad, but also because she had to move away from her school, her home, her one... her best friend.

Joohyun had assured her that it would all be OK. They would write to each other. They would always be friends. Nothing would change. 

Joohyin thought back to when she had last written to her. It had been almost ten years. For the first few years, she had written but eventually they had drifted apart.

She looked at the tree across the park from where she sat. That was where Seulgi had fallen down and broken her arm. She remembered that Seulgi had cried. She had tried to tell Joohyun it was fine. She smiled. Seulgi had always been stronger than her.

"I still have the scar from where they put the pin in, you know."

Joohyun jumped to her feet. There she stood. In person. The smile was back. 

"Seulgi-ssi."

"Really, Jpohyum? We're here to propose marriage to each other and you're going to be so formal?"

"Seulgi... Seul, I..."

Sit down, Hyun. I know I'm going to die a spinster. But we do need to talk."

Joohyun sat down and kept looking at the tree, avoiding her gaze. She was also avoiding herself. Her emotions, her feelings. This felt right somehow. Sitting here, with Seulgi. She couldn't allow herself to feel right. She was preparing for her eventual arrest. 

"So how've you been, Joohyun? I sent you a fruit basket when you got promoted."

"Yeah, they told me. I didn't get it though. They suspected bugs. Or poison."

Seulgi laughed, the familiar hearty laugh. She had to use all her strength not to laugh alongside her. This was wrong.

"Surely, they knew about us. They did their background checks."

"They did. I told them I hadn't had any contact with you for a decade."

"And after you promised me you would write daily. That's no way to treat a lady."

"How could you, Seul?" Joohyun finally looked at Seulgi. 

She raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.

"You were good, Seul. In your heart. You were not a bad person. How did it come to this?"

"I'm still the same person."

"In the next week, I'm going to charge you with multiple counts of murder, fraud, and so much more."

"I'm still the same person."

Joohyun looked away, trying to calm herself. She wanted to scream at her, to shake her.

"I'm gonna go now." She got up.

"Don't you want an answer to the question, Hyun?"

"What question?"

"The one you asked. How did it come to this?"

Joohyun looked at her and saw her pleading eyes. She sat back down. "Five minutes."

"I don't need that much. Do you remember why I left?"

"Your father was murdered. By criminals. The same criminals you work alongside day in and day out."

"And then I went to university for my further studies. I was clever. I also had a side project. To collect all information I could on the organized crime in our city. I wanted my father's murderers brought to justice."

"I know. We used to talk about that."

"As I learnt more and more, a few things became obvious. The criminals were set in their ways. They were afraid of changes. They still thought laundering money through small bodegas and dry cleaners was the best possible way. I saw so many ways things could be streamlined."

"And you decided to help them with this information. You could've come to us and taken them down."

She laughed. "I also learned why they were still able to operate the way they could. They had inside men at every organization. Your former boss, among them."

"Bogum? No, that's impossible."

"Not just Bogum. You didn't get the fruit basket. Trust me, our former prosecutor got lots of them. They'll eventually approach you too. Once you're a bit more jaded. Not so new and full of hope. I know. I'm supposed to follow the same strategy."

"What?"

"That case you're preparing against me. I got copies of all the documents the same day you did."

"That's impossible."

Seulgi opened a bag she had been carrying with her and handed Joohyun a stack of papers.

Joohyun recognized them instantly. She was speechless.

Seulgi smiled and continued. "Organized crime is like termites. They have seeped into the foundations of this very city. There isn't a single department they haven't compromised. They eat just enough to satisfy themselves, but not enough to collapse the city. But that's about to change."

She pulled out all other documents from her bag and dropped them on the bench.

"What is all this?"

"Names. Evidences. I hope your jails have enough space."

Joohyun looked over the documents. She recognized some of the names readily. "You..."

"If you have to clean the Augean stables, you can't do it from the outside. You have to get down and dirty. You'll find everything you need in there. The last ten years of my life have been the river that will cleanse this city."

"They'll come after you."

"I know. I lied earlier. I'm not here to propose marriage. I'm here to say goodbye again. And I'm here to tell you that if you don't meet anyone in the next seven years, come see me right here. I'll wait for you. If you think you can get over what I did, if you think you can be with me, I'll be here."

"I..." Words failed her.

"I spent my entire childhood with you. I never needed any other friend. I still don't. Did you want me to say it out loud?"

Seulgi's eyes were moist. Joohyun's too. "I can't let you go."

"You can't stop me."

"I'll come for you."

"You will never find me. If you come as a prosecutor, you never will. If you come as Joohyun, my Hyun, I'll always be there."

With that, Seulgi walked away - a figure being kissed by the rays of the rising sun - as Joohyun sat there looking at her, wondering if she would ever see her again.


End file.
